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… and now for something completely different!

This last May, KSS was one of the sponsors for a Memorial Day Weekend Retreat taught by Lydia – Understanding Blue. While Lydia was preparing for her retreat, she introduced me to a fabulous tutorial by Jennifer McGuire where she used Perfect Pearls with multi-step stamping. You can see her tutorial HERE

Birch Trees disguised as Summer Aspen Trees

Happy Labor Day! I hope you are enjoying the “Last Day of Summer”?

I was so excited by the idea when a sweet attendee at JunkieFest, Jalayne, wanted to stamp the Birch Trees as Aspen trees! My head about exploded from her awesome suggestion! She was thrilled with her stamped “aspen trees” and so was I, so I had to come home and recreate stamping aspen trees for myself.

In my Color Recipe Update Post, I mentioned using Gina K’s inks while at Junkie Fest and liking the crisp impression from the inks … so I put them to the test using Classic Old Truck. I was not disappointed! First, all her ink colors responded with full coverage and crisp impression. Second, a wide color range of colors with 49 different colors. I really love the aqua colors she carries and would have a tough time trying to stamp this light turquoise truck using Memento inks.

Step 2: Cut a round corner on each “square corner” on the side of the coaster that was cut down the middle.

A: Stack both coaster halves (now 2 tags) together with the rounded corner tag on the top of the “square corner” tag.

B: Align the top tag to match up on both sides of the bottom tag (see photo B below). The area that is indicated as orange in photo B, will be the area that is cut off.

C: With a xacto knife and using the top tag round corner as a guide, carefully trim away the excess “square corner” from the bottom tag. NOTE: Be careful not to cut into the top tag while cutting the bottom tag.

Step 3: Repeat Step 2 on the other “square corner” of bottom tag, so all 4 corners of the tag are now round.

Before punching the slot at one end of the tag … IF you are using this tool and planning on punching more than 1 or 2 tags (still be careful), it is a good idea to tape the tool’s cutting tip to the striking handle. The tip can easily slide away from the striking handle cause an open space that will then close when hitting down on the striking end of the handle with a hammer and it is possible for the skin on your hand/fingers to get pinched. (While my son was helped me punch 150 tags, this happened to him causing a blood blister on the palm of his hand :(.) We used electrical tape to secure the cutting tip to the handle, but I believe washi tape would work too. Placing the tag on a self-healing mat that is on a hard/no flex surface (counter, cement floor, etc.) position slot cutting tool at one end of the tag and hit the striking end with a hammer. This should take about 2 to 3 hits with the hammer. You will see on the other side when the tool has cut through. If you find that you are having to strike with the hammer more than 3 times, the surface under the self-healing matt isn’t hard or sturdy enough.

Now all you have left to do is stamp away on the tag front.

After stamping the front of the tag, I stamped “address lines” using the journaling lines stamp from Playful Frames & Journaling (retired).

As for the luggage tag strap, I used approx. 7″ in length of 1.25″ wide grosgrain ribbon and lightly burned the cut ends with a lighter to prevent the ends from unraveling. To fasten the ribbon ends together, I used plastic snaps(found on Amazon). I am sure there are many other options for attaching your luggage tag, but I wanted something lightweight and that wouldn’t have a backside edge that could scratch the handles of my suitcase (and with 150 to make, I wanted fast and easy;)) so I chose to use a plastic snap (the kind they use on infant clothes). Note: if using snaps, the second end of the ribbon needs to go through the tag before adding the last snap.

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Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and give stamping your own luggage tags a try.

I left my heart in … Minnesota

and at Stamp Junkie Fest 2018!

The last week of July, I headed out to attend “Stamp” Junkie Fest 2018, for their annual get together. Stamp Junkies is a Facebook group that started in the spring of 2015 and formed the common LOVE of stamping with the MISTI. In 3 short years, the group has grown to just under 30k members! As more and more members ask (in my case… I pleaded!) Chris Dalton, the organizer of the event, if they too can join the annual “get-together” … the Stamp Junkie gathering could no longer be held at someone’s home or a local craft store… so this year 122 Stamp Junkies (plus teachers, Stamp Junkie admins & business owners) took over the Embassy Suites in Minneapolis, MN for 3 inky fun-filled days!

When I saw a post for Junkie Fest 2018 in its planning stage, I did something that is quite out of character … I asked Chris Dayton if I could invite myself! Are you asking why? Well, besides sounding like it would be a LOT of fun … I thought this would be a fabulous chance to design a special Make & Take for an awesome crowd of stampers. Plus, as I have written in the past posts, I spent my childhood summers on Lake Vermillion in northern MN, so when I find a chance to go back and see family … I jump at it … and this time dragging my KSS traveling and stamping workshop buddy, Traci, along too! I was so excited when Chris said there was room for me to do 2 M&Ts! So I got busy! These are the 2 finished Make & Takes I created just for JunkieFest 2018. A Minnesota Loon coaster chipboard luggage tag and a Norway Pine Christmas wood disk ornament. Below are the Limited Edition stamp sets that each make & taker received to take home when they finished.

There is a little story behind the Christmas ornament M&T that I would like to share. While I was thinking about what sort of M&T I would create for this special event, this spring, my husband cut down a small pine tree that had to come down. It was growing under a huge oak tree in our front yard… the pine never had a chance. It was while I was searching to purchase more 4″x4″ coasters (to cut in half to create the luggage tags) I ran across some images of wood disk drink coasters … (lightbulb moment!).

I didn’t want to buy 125-150 wooden coasters for a Christmas ornament M&T … especially since I had been staring at a stack of small pine logs stacked on the edge of our driveway for the past month! My M&T idea quickly became a family project. My husband cut 150 + 2.5″ to 3″ dia. wood disks at 1/4″ to 3/8″ thick (perfect thickness to stamp on when using the Misti after removing the insert foam pad). Our oldest son sanded both sides (they had to be smooth to stamp on) and drilled all the holes at the top! Our youngest son lucked out this time! LOL

I decided to use the Misti and conduct our M&T as an “assembly line”. This strategy would allow me to align each stamp step ahead of time on a separate Misti. Those partaking in our M&T wouldn’t have to worry about aligning any stamps… just ink up, stamp and then move to the next Misti. One problem. How to stamp on a circular object using the Misti??? Answer: attach the disk to a square piece of cardstock. I have to admit (humble toot), it worked like a dream!

JunkieFest 2018 was a huge success, meeting lovely ladies (members, admins, and company owners) and tons of creativity swirling around … I am not even going into the amazing swag bag or door prizes for the those attending (it was beyond words)!

Here are some of the beautiful and thought cards I received while at JunkieFest!

Thank you cards from Junkie Fest 2018

I hope you will consider clearing your calendar for next year and join Stamp Junkies in Minn. next year for JunkieFest 2019… I can hardly wait!

Oh… and if you were wondering about the water in this card … it is the first sneak peek to KSS next stamp release, available early next week! Will have 3 more sneak peeks for you later this week.

I find these days, the one type of gardening I have any success with is … a stamped one! LOL! I would love to hear from those in other states and countries when your garden is under siege from the heat, what plants stand victorious?

I found after stamping the swirls background, the blue hydrangeas fought a bit with the swirls and felt the sentiment wouldn’t pop enough. Adding an overlay of light pink vellum (translucent) sheet over the swirls was the answer!

The Sunflower card below was less involved. I started by stamping the three sunflowers close together on a 4.25″ x 5.5″ piece of cardstock. Added leaves around the blossoms and then trimmed down the stamped cardstock to fit the layered card base. Sponged the edges and adding the ladybugs last. It is hard to see in the photo, but I added a few drops of Clear Nuvo Crystal Drops on some of the leaves to look like dew drops.